readwithria's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
A Court of Wings and Ruin takes the threads of the previous books and weaves them together into such a good conclusion to Feyre’s story.
Do I love this book? No, not really. But I definitely had a good time with it. ACOTAR does a better job of mixing the politics with the romance, and ACOMAF does a great job with the romance with just a sprinkle of the politics, but this book struggles to balance the two well. The plot is kinda meh, and the romance has already been established so there’s not a lot of time spent on it, which makes complete sense.
I wish the war plot had been better entwined into all of the books so that it doesn’t feel so out of place. I think that SJM doesn’t fully understand the difference between “putting on a mask” and being a situationally bad person to the people you don’t like. But I also knew all of this going into the book, so it didn’t surprise me.
I know this is her most beloved series, and I really do like it, but it’s just not my favorite.
Anyway, if you go in with the expectation of fae vibes and steam you won’t be disappointed.
Graphic: War, Injury/Injury detail, and Violence
Moderate: Fire/Fire injury, Death, and Sexual content
Minor: Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Kidnapping, Sexism, and Racism
redheadsuperpowers's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
I did not like some of the twists. Stop making me cry. Ugh. That was pretty much my only dislike.
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Blood, Death, and War
Moderate: Confinement, Torture, Violence, and Misogyny
Minor: Domestic abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Lesbophobia, Body horror, Alcohol, Classism, Emotional abuse, Infidelity, and Kidnapping
josiee's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Moderate: Classism, Fire/Fire injury, Forced institutionalization, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Confinement, Death of parent, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Lesbophobia, Medical content, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Medical trauma, Biphobia, Drug abuse, Drug use, Colonisation, Cursing, Grief, Infidelity, Sexual harassment, Animal death, Blood, Mental illness, Sexual violence, Stalking, War, Ableism, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Sexism, Abandonment, Alcohol, Animal cruelty, Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Kidnapping, Murder, Suicide, Suicide attempt, Toxic friendship, Toxic relationship, Adult/minor relationship, Alcoholism, Death, Torture, Trafficking, Violence, and Vomit
jmkendall0218's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Graphic: War, Violence, Death of parent, Grief, Death, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Toxic relationship
Minor: Lesbophobia
graceskate's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Graphic: Physical abuse, Gaslighting, Violence, Gore, Toxic relationship, Stalking, Emotional abuse, Domestic abuse, Death of parent, Death, Murder, War, Sexual content, Grief, Xenophobia, Body horror, Misogyny, Sexism, Colonisation, Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Sexual violence, Death of parent, Toxic friendship, Religious bigotry, Mental illness, Death, Misogyny, Abandonment, Sexual assault, Torture, Racism, Panic attacks/disorders, Murder, Animal death, Sexism, Trafficking, Child abuse, and Medical content
Minor: Kidnapping, Sexual harassment, Slavery, Vomit, Sexual violence, Sexual assault, Religious bigotry, Infidelity, Genocide, Homophobia, Lesbophobia, Child abuse, Cursing, Alcohol, and Cannibalism
dalek_caan's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Graphic: Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Gore, Torture, Violence, War, Body horror, Death, Kidnapping, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Grief
Moderate: Abandonment
Minor: Biphobia, Lesbophobia, and Homophobia
prasi's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
And there was zero chemistry. It's like they went from this fiery, happy, romantic couple who are constantly bickering (in the snarky flirty way) and shouting their undying love for each other literally from the tops of mountains to... having emotionless sex every 10 pages? Idk... Where was the substance?
All of this made the 'action' or plot part of the book feel more like a side-plot to Rhys and Feyre's sexy times. There was no real build-up to it and everything about it felt rushed and uncharacteristic.
There was also something about the way Rhys was presented in this book that just started giving me the ick. He's always been a sort of Gary Stu character to me but still seemed ok? There was a balance he had with Feyre that worked for them even though he was *too* perfect. But there were several points in this book where he just had no personality at all and rolled over like a housepet. Where is the passion and ferocity and snark he brought in ACOMAF?
Maas could have replaced Rhysand with a pool noodle and I probably wouldn't have noticed.
And the way she portrays Tamlin in this book makes me feel like she's turned him into a plot device to make Feyre and Rhys closer. I'd always felt like Tamlin magically changed personalities in the middle of ACOTAR for no discernible reason, but ACOWAR really cements how I'm feeling about that. It's like she develops these characters we care about and then decides part way through the story to completely change their personality with zero reasoning behind why it happened.
I was not impressed with this reread.
Original 2019 5-Star Review
Spoiler
This is one of those books that had me giggling like a little girl the entire time I was reading it. I smiled like an idiot, laughed, and damn near threw the book across the room. It's rare that a book pulls so much emotion from me while I'm reading it, but ACOWAR brought back all the familiar feelings of reading a book with characters I absolutely love.Graphic: Sexual content, Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Lesbophobia and Biphobia
Most of this is pretty self-explanatory - but the lesbophobia content warning is due to how Maas portrayed Mor in this book. It almost felt like she tried to rush and write-in some diversity but the way this was done was both sloppy and shows extremely poor representation. Maas again wrote scenes that felt out-of-character to (this time) diversify her characters. And in doing so, she made them look like awful people. It's a bad choice to write your lgbt+ characters as bad stereotypes and it's also a bad choice to suddenly make a character lgbt+ several books into a series after making it look like they might start a hetero relationship. In the case of Mor, she also never told anyone about it? Even Rhys? Even though they've been friends for literally hundreds of years? It feels like a last minute add-on to the book for the sake of queerbaiting and I'm not buying it.tierneymichele's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
5.0
Graphic: War, Toxic relationship, Panic attacks/disorders, Death of parent, Lesbophobia, Child death, Sexual content, Torture, Violence, Vomit, Genocide, Death, Blood, Emotional abuse, Gore, Murder, Kidnapping, and Grief
loisbredemeijer's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Spoiler
I never really cried while reading a book but when Rhys died, my gosh, i cried. I felt every emotion Feyre felt at that moment.Graphic: Death, Violence, and War
Moderate: Death of parent, Vomit, Alcohol, Lesbophobia, Blood, and Rape
amelia22's review against another edition
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Graphic: Death, Violence, Sexual harassment, War, Xenophobia, Sexism, Sexual content, Mental illness, Lesbophobia, and Grief
Moderate: Toxic relationship, Sexual content, and Slavery
Minor: Alcohol, Torture, and Slavery